Category Archive

I had lunch with a friend yesterday who said something I’m now stewing on (in a good way, not an angry way) – she said we all know God is the Provider, but how often do we allow God to be our Provider in times of need? We know God is the Comforter, but the scene changes a bit when we allow Him to be our Comforter in times of distress. In what other ways do I know about God without really knowing God, and what does it take to turn that corner?

Some of the best insights come when I hear things I’ve heard a hundred times before, but said in a new way or at just the right time, those things really take hold. This morning at church, Rodney Anderson said, “Our job is not to make a great church, it’s to make a great world.” Amen and amen. Of course the church should be excellent and we want to draw people in, but even more than that, we have to be going out as well, “in-breaking” into groups and communities and people who may never see the inside of our church.

Mike and I have been talking a lot lately about kairos moments, quality moments when you really get it and everything makes sense, and how we don’t typically camp out on those long enough (thanks to Mark Cole for this insight). A lot of the time, we experience it – maybe a breakthrough while reading Scripture, or maybe it’s the death of someone you love, or maybe it’s just realizing that basil and tomato really, really taste good together – and then we move on. Thinking, essentially, “Well, that was great [or horrible, depending on the situation]. I really learned a lot from that. Now, what next?”

Part of my reason for writing here is that I want to learn to hang out in those moments for longer. Even if it’s just a few minutes longer, as long as it takes me to type something about it, it will at least stay in my mind and heart a little bit more. And maybe all of those kairos moments will one day add up to something substantial, like a book that helps women get through the end of college and those first few years of single independence. Maybe it will be a book that helps newly married couples learn to live together and serve one another and grow a strong, steady, abiding love. Maybe it will be a book about food and family and home and how it’s all intertwined. Stay tuned, that’s all I’m sayin’.